Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Housing Minister Phil Twyford and music legend Dave Dobbyn have welcomed 18 families to the first KiwiBuild homes to be lived in at Papakura's McLennan development.
The Government plans to use KiwiBuild to help first-home buyers, by building properties to be sold at 'affordable' prices.
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What constitutes affordable differs depending on area. Three-bedroom houses at the McLennan development sold for $579,000.
Dobbyn sang his hit song 'Welcome Home' at a street party held for the new residents, attended by several senior Government MPs.
During her speech, Ms Ardern spoke about the role previous Labour Governments played in building state housing.
But she said, unlike her predecessor Michael Joseph Savage, she was not going to help move the furniture in.
Ms Ardern and Mr Twyford met with the families this morning. Mr Twyford said another 12 homes in the area will be finished by Christmas, and more homes are on the way.
"It will be an exponential upward trend as we head towards the end of June next year," he said. "We're going to continue to roll out that programme and I'm confident we'll hit our targets."
Mr Twyford said 58 new homes will be built at the McLennan development next year.
Aside from the development in Papakura, there are 25 new homes being built in Onehunga, and a further 15 being built in Wanaka.
Other KiwiBuild homes are planned for Auckland's Mt Albert, some within new builds on formerly Unitec land, and 18 apartments within the Ockham Residential development Tuatahi.
The Government hopes to build 100,000 KiwiBuild homes over 10 years.
Newshub.
